Licenses of 84 masseuses pulled after 'rogue employee' at Florida College of Natural Health issued fraudulent credentials, school officials say

The 80-plus massage therapists whose Florida licenses have been suspended as part of a crackdown on human trafficking each have at least one thing in common: a "rogue employee" at the Florida College of Natural Health in Pompano Beach.

That's according to college officials, who said they reacted "immediately" after finding out that the employee was awarding fraudulent credentials to Asian massage students who either never went to the school or didn't complete the courses outlined on their transcripts.

The college would not provide the name of the former staffer, saying only that she was based in Pompano Beach and is no longer with the college. They called regulators, who then involved police.

"We apparently had a rogue employee who was somehow involved with these human trafficking folks and she had the ability, due to her position, to create falsified student transcripts," said Bob Boehm, executive vice-president and general counsel for Steiner Leisure Limited, the parent company of the Steiner Education Group, which operates the Florida College of Natural Health.

The college has branches in Pompano Beach, Miami, Sarasota and Orlando. Since the school was licensed in 1999, it has had no disciplinary actions, said Florida Department of Education spokeswoman Cheryl Etters. The college's massage programs also have no disciplinary history, according to the Florida Department of Health.

The now-suspended masseuses used fake documents purporting to be from the college to obtain their state massage licenses, health department records show.

Boehm said the college did not know the staffer was creating false credentials and said it's possible the person had been doing so at her home or somewhere else outside of the college.

Boehm also said the scam came to light when a health department official noticed a difference between one applicant's credentials and the actual courseload at the college. The credentials stated the applicant had completed a 500-hour massage course.

The health department announced the enforcement action Wednesday, issuing a press release stating that the crackdown was a result of a joint investigation into human trafficking involving several massage businesses by DOH, the South Florida Human Trafficking Task Force and the Clearwater Human Trafficking Task Force.

"During their investigation, more than 200 therapists appeared to have obtained their massage licenses through fraud," said DOH spokeswoman Ashley Carr. "The investigations revealed that some massage therapists paid between $10,000 to $15,000 to obtain fraudulent college certificates and transcripts, which they then submitted to DOH as part of their licensure applications."

After the suspensions, Gov. Rick Scott directed Secretary of Health Dr. John Armstrong to conduct a seven-day review of massage schools to make sure they're complying with regulations.

A spokesperson with the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) office in Miami confirmed ICE was involved in the investigation, but could not provide any further details.

"We can't comment on an ongoing investigation," said Nestor Yglesias.

A list of 84 names provided by DOH shows that most, if not all, of the suspended masseuses are Asian. Twenty-seven of the therapists on the list are based in South Florida, with six of them based in Plantation.

One of those suspended massage therapists, Shiying Peng, who said she owns Amazing Techniques in Plantation, sobbed in a phone interview about having her license pulled.

Originally from China, Peng said she has studied at three schools including the Florida College of Natural Health, Royal Irvin College in California and another school in Europe. She applied for a Florida license in 2008.

"This is making me very sick," Peng said. "I went to school to study to very hard."